Just to Say Goodbye
by TheHolidays
Summary: ZADR When the Tallest tell Zim that he's going to be deactivated, zim asks for seven days to find the one person he wants to say goodbye to. Songfic. Back to California by Sugarcult. oneshot FINISHED


**Just to Say Goodbye**

"Zim, you've been on Earth for 8 years now and you STILL haven't conquered it!" Tallest Red snapped at him. After much consideration, the Tallest had come to the conclusion that they could use Earth in some ways... like to fullfill Tak's plan and fill it with snax or something similar.

"W...well, My Tallest, it's not that I haven't TRIED-"

"It cant be THAT hard, Zim! For Irk's sake, you've told us over and over how stupid they are!"

"Well...yes...but.."

"No but's, Zim. The council has decided that you're simply too much trouble. You are to report back to Irk for deactivation." he didn't sound the least bit saddened by the whole thing.

"DEACTIVATION! But My Tallest, I-"

"Don't try running away either. Need I remind you that you have a tracer in your PAK. And surely you wouldn't try to _remove_ it." Red glanced at his hands as if they were interesting, or if he was simply bored.

Zim fell to his knees and pounded on the console in front of him. How could they do this? All that he'd worked for...and even after the Dib-human moved away too. He'd hardly had enough time to lick his wounds and now THIS?

"C...can I at least have a few days to say goodbye?"

"You need DAYS to say goodbye?" Red raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Well... the only object worthy of my farewell is no longer here and I need time to find it again."

"Oh, you mean that 'Dib' you talk so much about?" Red made an odd gesture at the human's name, showing his obvious disgust that a member of the almighty Irken race, even one as pitiful as Zim, would be friends with a worthless dirt-monster.

Zim hestitated, then slowly nodded, his eyes downcast as if he regretted it.

Red sighed, irritated. "Well, seeing as how you cant escape and all... Very well. You have a week to say your precious goodbyes before Irken Security will come to get you." The screen went black as Red simply signed off.

_How Long I'll wait just to say goodbye. Ten different ways to enjoy this night. Can't do this anymore. Won't feel you anymore. How long I'll wait just to say goodbye. _

DAY ONE; 2:00AM 

Where to start, where to start? How could it be THIS hard to find one measly human? He knew he left a tracker in the human when he'd tried to erase his memory that one time, but he couldn't remember its code.

Zim growled as he strode over to his destroyed battle suit that he'd used that fateful day. It had taken a long while getting it out of that sewer. Every now and then he could still smell the nasty stuff that was still stuck in tiny crevices.

He cringed. What an awful smell.

_You could never let me in. Holding on until the end. The time I waste just to say goodbye. Out of your way I could do this right. Can't see you anymore. Won't feel you anymore. How long I'll stay just to say goodbye. Say goodbye. _

After hours and hours of searching, Zim made a happy cry to himself when he found the code inside the suits codes. He punched it into his computer's mainframe and a blue dot appeared on the map in front of him. He squinted to identify where, exactly, the Dib-human was.

"California?" he mumbled to himself and squinted. "Why California?" He downloaded the map schematic into his Voot Cruiser and got in. He was about to call for GIR but remembered that the tiny robot had been his reason for calling the Tallest in the first place. As it turns out, they had been able to deactivate GIR from the Massive. Zim had simply found the robot, dead eyed and motionless, on the couch in front of the TV, slushy liquid still leaking from his mouth.

Zim sighed almost sadly and lifted off through the roof of his base which closed firmly behind him.

It was cold outside. He could tell by the way his window kept fogging up every time he exhaled. The Tallest had cut off most of his light speed mechanisms to make sure that he couldn't make it to some other far off planet, so it would be a good two or three days before he got to California. He set the Cruiser to track the human using the map he'd downloaded, so Zim sighed deeply and leaned back in his chair. Irken's didnt sleep, so it would be a pretty boring, agonizing trip, but he did close his eyes and think of the human, wondering how much he'd changed.

_Leave it all, the fights and all. Summer's getting colder. Drive all night to hold you tight. Back to California. Days went by, we waited, and I guess we're getting older. We couldn't win in the end. You're gone. _

DAY FOUR 10:00 AM

'Finally' Zim thought to himself as his ship landed in a deserted enough spot, far enough away from his target so that he didn't draw unnecessary attention to himself. It really wouldn't matter if someone found it now, anyway. Maybe the Dib would find it and finally be able to have all of his secrets.. Zim smiled lightly at that.

He put on his feeble disguise, modified slightly over the years, but not too much (the humans never noticed anyhow), and stepped out of the ship, hitting his head on the roof as he stood. Stupid Earth gravity. It had made him grow taller than he was supposed to, not tall enough to really count for anything, but still taller, which was good in some ways, but it made his ship slightly too small.

It was warmer here. The sun was shining bright, making him squint as he stepped into it. He lifted up a smaller device with a TV screen he'd brought to pinpoint the human's exact location. It was about two houses down from where he currently stood. He turned and followed the beeping blue circle on his screen to an equally as blue house. He was quite surprised to see that it looked exactly as the other one had, even down to the futile electronic 'fence' perimiter around the yard.

Zim stood there a minute, almost afraid, but then he steeled himself and knocked on the door. And who should answer it but the Dib-monster himself.

Zim blinked, his mouth hung open slightly.

'He... he's beautiful...' he thought a bit stupidly.

Dib stood taller than he did by a little bit. The scythe-shaped spike of his hair curved down behind his neck. The rest of his black hair was slicked back even though a few strands still hung in his eyes. The huge glasses he wore a while back were replaced with smaller ones that brought out the amber color in his eyes. He still wore a trench coat, of course. The ultimate apparel of any good paranormal hunter. He had his usual blue shirt, but the smiley face had its tongue out. His black jeans showed only the bottoms of his steel-toed boots. His clothes all contrasted brilliantly with the soft, pale color of his skin.

"Dib? Is that really you?" He squinted at the human's face, as if trying to see through him.

Dib blinked, frozen for an instant. He knew that voice, that green skin, those fake purple eyes..

"ZIM?" he shouted excitedly, pulling him into the doorway by his arm, hugging him briefly. "How the hell did you find me?" Dib said, backing up, eyeing the alien and beaming.

"I left a tracking device deep in your organs when we were children. Anyhow, Dib, I have come to-" he stopped short as Dib grabbed him by the sleeve and dragged him into the living room where Gaz sat watching TV.

"Gaz, look! It's Zim!" Dib gestured wildly to the alien beside him excitedly.

Gaz turned her head slightly to see him with the corner of her eye before turning back to the screen, unimpressed.

"That's greeeat..." she said in a monotone voice. "Just make sure to close your door."

Dib huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Zim," he said, waving for Zim to follow him. Zim hesitated but followed the human up the stairs. Second door to the left. The Swollen Eyeball signal was hanging on the outside of his door. Dib walked in first, clicking a light on. Paranormal posters still littered the walls, but so did a few other things like bands and movie posters. The color scheme was mostly blue.

Dib sat down on his bed and motioned for Zim to follow, so the alien walked over and sat next to him.

"So..." Dib said quietly. "I'll bet you were wondering why I left in the first place, huh?"

Zim nodded, taking care not to look directly at the human.

Dib sighed softly before speaking in a low tone, "Well... my dad practically made us. He said he was always away from home, said some junk about caring about us or whatever and moved us here so we could see each other more," Dib shook his head, "But he's still gone all the time. I made it a priority to go and see you, but I didn't have a mode of transportation, and even though my father is never here, he somehow manages to watch us. He would stop me every time, saying I couldn't leave my sister alone even though she's sixteen. I hope you're not mad." He paused for what seemed like years before adding, "I missed you alot," almost inaudibly.

Zim shook his head. "I'm not mad, Dib. Honestly, I'm not. The reason I came to find you was-" he was once again cut off from his sentence when Dib roughly grabbed the Invader's shirt and pulled him forward, catching the alien's mouth and pulling him close.

'Ah well... I can tell him later. I still have three days." Zim thought as he pulled off Dib's ever present coat. Then his shirt. He ran his claws gently down Dib's pale chest as the human gently began pulling off the Invader uniform, then his disguise, revealing Zim's blood red eyes his antennea, which he gently traced with his fingers. Zim purred, sitting up to push Dib down against the mattress. He leaned over to turn off Dib's light before pushing the human's knees towards his chest and eagerly easing his way in.

_I'm miles away, turning out your light. Ten different ways I could end this night. Can't do this anymore, won't feel you anymore. How long I'll wait just to say Goodbye. Say Goodbye._

Day Six 11:45 PM

Dib fell limp on Zim's chest, panting. The sweat still slightly burned Zim but it was nothing compared to the burning elsewhere, not just physically, but deep in his chest. Zim looked at the clock and grimaced. 15 minutes. Why in all the powers of Irk had he waited so long? Though he knew it was because he hadn't wanted to ruin his last days, he still kicked himself mentally for being so incredibly stupid as to break it to the fragile human all in a rush.

"Dib-thing... I never got to tell you... the reason I came back.." he panted softly between his words. "I came back to say that I won't be seeing you again..." he added, pain racked in his voice.

Dib looked up sharply, examining the Invader's face with shock and fear. "What!" he sputtered.

"The Tallest think that I am nothing but trouble... They told me I had seven days to say my final farewells before they take me back to Irk to be deactivated..." He spoke in little more than a whisper, eyes clenched shut, waiting for impossible tears that would never come.

"Wha...? But they can't do that! You're just going to LET them take you away? You can't let them, Zim, You CAN'T!" Dib sat up, then, pounding a fist into the mattress, anger and fear boiling inside him.

"There's nothing I can do about it, Dib. They've got me tracked through my pak.." Zim opened his eyes a bit, looking up at the only being he'd ever really cared for, arms feeling limp and dead at his sides.

"So get rid of it!" Dib shouted, his face contorted, eyes growing shiney. Zim wanted to touch those shiney eyes.

"I'll die without it. It's what keeps me alive, what's allowing me to live here." His fingers twitched.

"Is there any way to take the tracker out of it?" the human scrambled for something that would work, racking his brain.

Zim shook his head slowly, resigned to his fate. "They can track the Irken technology itself. There's no way I can leave it behind."

"I'm not just going to sit back and let them take you from me, Zim! I won't! I can't! I'll DIE without you." The liquid in Dib's eyes finally breached, and hot tears dripped from those golden eyes.

"You'll DIE if you try to stop them because they'll kill you too." Zim said quietly, but meaningfully, reaching up finally, to wipe away the tears from his human's skin.

Dib grabbed his hand and held it to his face which held a defiant expression. "So let them! We can die together. I wont leave you to die, Zim. Do you understand? I WON'T!" A sob cracked his voice.

Zim glanced at the clock. 11:57.

'No, not yet.. please not yet...' he thought. Irkens didn't have tears to shed, but he wished by all the powers that be that he did. This pain was completely inexpressible. He reached up and held Dib's face.

"Dib. You've got to promise me that you'll stay alive, alright? I'll fight them all I can, I'll argue my case with the Control Brains. Maybe they'll just send me into exile.. again.. but if I _don't_ make it..." he paused. "I won't have you die for my sake. Don't say goodbye, Dib. Don't you EVER say goodbye."

"Never." he shook his head solemnly, fresh tears finding their way down his face.

"Wait for me, Dib. Okay? Promise you'll wait for me. No matter how long it takes." Zim furrowed his non-existant eyebrows, looking hard at the human, unimaginable pain welling in his squeedilyspooch.

"I promise." Dib said softly.

Both of them flinched violently as the roof crashed in over their heads and Irken soldiers burst into the room from the massive hole in the ceiling.

"Irken Invader Zim, you are to come with us to Irk for deactivation. Come willingly or we'll be forced to take immediate action," one of the Soldiers said, pointing a rather nasty looking laser gun at the alien while another shoved Dib aside and pulled Zim to his feet. Zim grabbed Dib's hand one final time.

"Don't you forget me, Dib!" Zim screamed as the guards pulled them apart.

"ZIM!" Dib shreiked, stumbling after him. A Soldier shoved him backwards onto the floor and kicked him cruelly before backing up with the rest of them, into a beam of blue light radiating from the ship hovering just over the roof. Dib jumped up, stretching a hand to Zim's, barely touching finger to claw as Zim was pulled upwards by the light... and just like that, they were gone.

Dib fell back onto the floor numbly, tears silently dripping down his face. He sat there, unable to feel his body.

"I won't say goodbye, Zim..." he mumbled, softly, choking as he said the name. "Ever."

_Leave it all, the fights and all. Summer's getting colder. Drive all night to hold you tight. Back to California. Days went by, we waited, and I guess we're getting older. We couldn't win in the end. We couldn't win in the end. We couldn't win in the end._

You're gone.


End file.
